


Travel Sized for Convenience

by Beware_The_Ravenstag



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Canonical Animal Death, Crew as Family, Dragons, Gen, Lizards, Mick Rory is a Softie, POV Mick Rory, Smoking, Team as Family, They're all fucking each other (implied), brief graphic injury, brief panic attack, legends being legends, mick gets a new pet, referenced pet death, references to self harm, weird pet lady!Amaya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beware_The_Ravenstag/pseuds/Beware_The_Ravenstag
Summary: "He entered, and then stopped dead. Mushu was alive and well, napping peacefully under his UV lamp.He also had wings. And horns."Mick's new pet is more than meets the eye.





	Travel Sized for Convenience

Mick was drifting off slowly, until the world around him devolved into a faint brown buzz. He should probably be alarmed at how many beers it was taking to get him here nowadays, but that was a problem for post-nap Mick.

He faintly heard what sounded like machinery humming, drilling into his head and preventing him from slipping into sweet unconsciousness. As he was ripped from his nap, he recognized the noise as human speech.

“... dragon….”

Mick’s eyes snapped open. “Dragon?”

Amaya stood in front of him, smiling gently, as she leaned forward. She was holding… was that a lizard?

“Mick, this is Curly. He needs a home for a little bit, and I was wondering if you could look after him.”

Mick blinked.

Curly flicked out his tongue.

“...What?”

“Go on, hold him.”

Mick was going to question her further, but Amaya plopped the creature onto his lap. It flicked its tongue again, and then wiggled as it started to climb up Mick’s stomach.

He stayed statue still, hands frozen in the air, as the lizard continued to climb around, its tiny claws digging into his skin.

Amaya smiled with genuine joy. “He likes you!”

Mick watched the creature warily. “It thinks I’m a tree.”

Amaya leaned forward and stroked the lizard’s scaly back. “No, he definitely likes you. I can tell,” she said.

Mick followed her example and ran a finger down the creature’s back. The lizard didn’t seem to get any enjoyment from the activity, not like Axl had.

At that, his eyes snapped back to Amaya. “You just happened to find a lizard without an owner laying around?” he asked knowingly.

Amaya had the decency to look sheepish at that, though she was saved from having to answer when Nate entered the room.

“Hey Amaya, hey Mick. Where’d you get the lizard?”

With a final, knowing look at Amaya, Mick replied, “Amaya found him. ‘Parently he needs a home.”

Nate’s face lit up. “Cool! What’s his name?”

Mick eyed the little bastard and processed the question. “Curly’s a dumb name. His name is Mushu,” he said.

Nate nodded approvingly. “Nice. Love that movie.”

Mick gingerly picked up Mushu and went back to his room to begin making accomodations for his new roomie.

Later, a thick envelope filled with printouts about how to care for bearded dragons was slid under his door, which Mick browsed with a small huff of laughter.

“Bet Amaya just found those laying around too,” he mumbled to himself.

* * *

Mick wasn’t sure how it had come to this.

Thursdays (or as close as they could get to a Thursday in the time stream), were team movie nights. This usually meant that they spent an hour and a half arguing about what movie to watch, before giving up in frustration and letting Gideon pick.

However, about fifteen minutes into the discussion, things had taken a weird turn.

“Ok, so, Zari and Amaya are Mushu’s moms, I’m his uncle on Zari’s side, Sara his cool aunt on Amaya’s side, Ray is my husband-”

“Nate, that objectively has nothing to do with anything,” said Sara.

Nate shrugged innocently. “We’re mapping the family tree, right? I’m just trying to be accurate.”

“Weren't we supposed to be watching a movie,” groaned Mick, “instead of arguing about who gets to hold Mushu during the movie?”

“We need to figure this out first. Then we we can start arguing about what movie we’re going to watch,” replied Wally.

“Family is family, do y’all really need to argue about the details?”

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Sara grinned. “Awwww, Mick said we’re family.”

Mick tried to backtrack. “I didn’t say that-”

Amaya threw her arm around Mick’s shoulder and pulled him into an awkward hug. “We love you too, Mick,” she said sweetly, only a hint of mischief in her eyes.

“Now, no one said anything about love-”

“Group hug!” yelled Sara, as she dove onto the couch and tackled Mick. The rest of the Legends dogpiled on top of each other, doing their best attempt at a group hug in the awkward position.

“Watch out for the baby!” screeched Nate, and someone scooped up Mushu and held him above the mass of people.

“Somebody just choose a fucking movie,” said Mick, muffled.

“...Amaya, have you seen Mulan?”

* * *

“Nate, I swear to god, that thing is not a football! Do not throw it!”

Nate reluctantly ducked back behind the pile of crates. “Do you have a better idea on how to get it to the ship without getting fried?” he asked snippily.

Sara hissed furiously. “I’m only going to say this one more time: shut up,”

Nate frowned, but remained silent, clutching the mysterious jar closer to his chest.

The jar was dark green, with swirling mist-like substance just barely visible inside. Mick had no clue what it was, only that Constantine needed them to play keep-away until he could get in touch with the only person he knew that could keep their current enemy at bay.

That enemy, of course, being the Time-Traveling Sorceress Morgan le Fay.

A hellish green glow cast shadows on the walls of the garage as the sound of footsteps grew closer.

Mick risked a quick look, and didn’t like what he saw.

Morgana was standing in front of the parked Waverider, green flame emanating from her fingertips. Mick couldn’t help a small gasp as he saw her eyes.

Or, rather, lack thereof.

Twin bloody holes, dark red and oozing, with dancing green flames in the sockets. Mick felt like his soul had been sliced open with a scalpel.

He quickly ducked back behind the crates.

Sara looked at him questioningly, and Mick just shook his head.

Suddenly, the familiar click of a lighter echoed throughout the cave.

John Constantine emerged from the shadows, lighting a cigarette. Morgana hissed, and her expression melted into something inhumanly angry.

She growled, “Have you finally come to face me, warlock? Or will you continue to prove yourself a coward?”

Constantine exhaled a lungful of smoke. “Sorry, love. Think I’ll have to choose coward once again. But don’t worry, I have someone you can fight instead.”

_"Gone, gone the form of man,_

_Rise the demon Etrigan!”_

Morgana barely had a chance to yell a strangled “No!” before an enormous yellow being in a cape launched across the cave and tackled her to the ground.

Sara leapt from behind the crate, drawing her bō staff, and began blocking Morgana’s attempts to escape the creature’s continuous onslaught.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Nate sprinted towards the Waverider, cradling the jar like a football, Mick not far behind. Constantine caught sight of them from the mouth of the cave and gave a cheeky two fingered salute

The next few moments seemed to play out in slow motion .

A blast of green energy came hurtling towards Nate’s feet. Nate abruptly changed direction in order to avoid it and tripped over his own feet, losing his balance in the process. Mick watched in abstract horror as the jar flew into the air, slowly fell back to earth, and shattered on the hard ground.

A deafening blast erupted through the air, light blue energy traveling outward in a circular blast.

Mick cursed and threw himself to the ground, screwing his eyes shut tightly. He felt something like static electricity wash over him, and shivered. It was gone a moment later, and Mick risked a peek out at the resulting scene.

The fight had completely halted, with both Morgana and the demon wearing matching horrified expressions. Constantine’s cigarette had fallen from his lips.

With a piercing shriek, Morgan le Fay vanished in a column of green flame. After another moment’s silence, Constantine began clapping slowly.

"Spectacular,” he said drily, “Real nice stuff there.”

“What...was that, exactly?” asked Sara.

Lighting another cigarette, Constantine shrugged. “No clue, only that Morgana wanted it for her evil plan.”

Nate did his best to look innocent.

The yellow beast stood up and brushed itself off.

_“I do not know, I am not wise,_

_And things not known should not be spoken_

_But if she hounded such a prize_

_Perhaps ‘tis better that it’s broken.”_

Taken aback, Mick felt oddly tempted to clap.

Constantine noticed the teams’ confusion.

“Everyone, this is Etrigan. He’s a demon and owes me a favor. Etrigan, this is everyone.”

Etrigan, to his credit, simply nodded politely, and retreated to the shadows of the cave. After a second, Mick realized that he was gone.

“Nice fellow. Good in a pinch if you can convince his alter ego.”

Since the human component of the Legends seemed to be unaffected, Constantine began to walk around the Waverider, examining it with a critical eye.

“She’ll probably be fine,” he said finally, patting the hull. “I’m sure she’s been through worse. Whatever hit your ship probably only killed bugs and small animals.”

Mick felt a little sick, imagining what horrors had befallen Mushu. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten attached to another pet.

It wasn’t that Mick wanted his lizard to be dead (and it was his, despite Amaya’s claims that she was looking for Mushu’s forever home). It’s just that a small guilty part of him was relieved that he wasn’t going to have to worry about when Mushu was going to die anymore.

Once Waverider was again chugging along through time and space, Mick mentally prepared himself to rip off the band-aid and face whatever horrors his quarters held for him.

Deep breath.

He entered, and then stopped dead. Mushu was alive and well, napping peacefully under his UV lamp.

He also had wings. And horns.

They were still there after he blinked and rubbed his eyes, and Mick couldn’t refrain from a low groan. Yeah, this might as well happen.

Mick addressed Gideon, never taking his eyes off of the cage. “Gideon, can you get Amaya down here?”

“Of course, Mr. Rory.”

When she arrived, Amaya paused at the entrance to his room. “What is it, Mick?” she asked hesitantly.

Gesturing her into the room, Mick pointed at the thing that was currently residing in his room. “That’s not normal for this kind of lizard, right?”

Amaya looked at Mushu, looked at Mick, then looked at Mushu again.

“No,” she said finally. “Not normal at all.”

The two of them approached the cage, and Mick peered gingerly inside. Mushu was still sleeping, and as he dreamt his lizard-y dreams, he flicked out his tongue and exhaled a small plume of smoke.

Mick looked back at Amaya, who was still somewhere between disbelief and acceptance.

“Do you think Trenchcoat’s left yet?” he asked.

* * *

Constantine nodded sagely. “That’s a dragon.”

Amaya looked at him incredulously. “Yes, but what do we do about it?” she asked.

He shrugged and started fiddling with a cigarette. “What do you want me to do about? Kill it?”

Mick started from where he had been watching Mushu roast crickets with tiny bouts of flame. “You touch him, I set your coat on fire,” he growled.

Constantine gestured to Mick like that proved his point. Amaya crossed her arms and gave him a fierce look. Mick did not envy him, having been on the receiving end of that look many times himself.

“Surely this has to do with whatever was in the jar,” said Amaya, and Constantine shrugged.

“Probably, but that still doesn’t mean I know what it was or why this happened.”

Mick chuckled, despite himself. “That’s pretty much our motto on this team.”

Amaya laughed as well. “I thought it was ‘We screw things up for the better.’”

“Can I go now?” complained Constantine. “This team is chaos and bad for my health.”

“I suppose you can, if you don’t have anything useful to say,” said Amaya.

He paused in his exit for a moment. “Just do whatever you were doing before. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Then, he was gone.

Amaya left a couple moments later, probably to grill him one more time.

Mick sat down in front of Mushu’s cage and stared at him as he went about his business.

He didn’t seem to be acting terribly dragon-like, but then again, Mick had no idea what that would entail. Did it mean Mushu wanted gold now?

Mick stood up, retrieved a doubloon from his stash, and dropped it into the cage with Mushu. The lizard started at the sudden noise, stayed still for a few moments, then went back to relaxing on his favorite rock.

Right, so. That took care of that.

Mick eyed Mushu suspiciously.

“Don’t suppose you’re a fan of riddles?” he asked dryly. Mushu, predictably, did not reply.

Well, that exhausted the depths of Mick’s knowledge of dragons. Next step was to find the only person on the ship that probably knew more about them.

* * *

“Haircut!”

Ray inhaled in surprise while sipping his drink, then snorted liquid out, choking and wheezing.

Mick waited impatiently for Ray to gather himself. “What do you know about dragons?” he demanded.

Ray, to his credit, didn’t hesitate at the odd question. Rubbing his face with a towel, he answered, “Well, it depends. Different cultures have vastly different mythologies surrounding dragons, and while it’s easy to categorize them into “eastern” and “western”, it’s hardly appropriate-”

Mick growled in frustration. “No, I mean real dragons.”

Ray blinked. “Real… dragons?”

Mick scowled and grabbed Ray’s wrist, dragging him back into his room.

“Like this,” he growled when they arrived, pointing at Mushu.

Ray examined Mushu critically. “That is a dragon,” he said finally.

“Yeah, I know. Now what do I do?” If Mick still had any hair, he would have been ready to pull it out. “The gold didn’t work, and I don’t think he can talk.”

“Well, what can he do?”

In response, Mick poked Mushu in the side. A small spurt of flame escaped, and he flicked his tongue lazily.

“That’s about it,” said Mick, “So, what now? Trenchcoat didn’t say anything useful.”

Ray paused for a second, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I think we should start with a full body scan, and see if any of his internal biology has changed. Gideon?”

After a few seconds, the AI replied. “It appears that the wings are entirely useless, Mr. Rory. Unless there are significant change to your pet’s bone and muscle mass, he will never be able to fly.”

“What about the fire?” asked Ray.

“He seems to have grown an entirely new organ, some kind of internal sac filled with liquid that combusts immediately upon contact with oxygen. His cells have also gained a mild fire resistance,” Gideon said.

Mick hummed approvingly. “Nice.”

Ray glanced at Mushu, worried. “Mick….”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Haircut, I’m not gonna hit him with the heat gun or anything.”

“Does Sara know about this?” asked Ray, not quite reassured.

“Does Sara know about what?”

Ray and Mick whirled to see Sara leaning against Mick’s doorway, smirking. Amaya hovered behind her, looking guilty.

“You told on me?” Mick teased.

Amaya looked sheepish, and Mick felt bad for giving her a hard time. He turned to address Sara.

“I was gonna get you after we figured out what all it could do.”

Sara raised her eyebrows skeptically, but entered Mick’s room, with Amaya trailing behind. Mick decided he didn’t like this many people in his room at once when sex wasn’t involved.

Sara swaggered to the cage and scooped up Mushu. She held him close to her face, almost staring the lizard down. Mushu flicked his tongue innocently.

Finally, Sara shrugged. “Looks good to me,” she said, and plopped him back into his terrarium.

* * *

 Mick was going to throw up.

His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest, his stomach was churning, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was right behind him.

His room was too big. He couldn’t take in enough air with each breath.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. He’d thought the new meds had been working. They had been working. What did he do wrong?

Suddenly, he noticed something and bolted upright.

Mushu’s cage was wide open.

Goddammit. He couldn’t do anything right, much less take care of another living creature. He collapsed back down on his bed.

Mick began to crave his lighter, just to run his hands over the smooth surface, to hear the satisfying flick of it turning off and on. To have the option of using it again.

Just as Mick was ready to march to Nate’s door to demand his lighter back, he felt a light plop on his chest.

He looked down and saw Mushu clinging to his shirt, a tiny plume of smoke curling up from his nostrils. Mushu began wiggling and turning around, then curled up in a circle directly over Mick’s heart.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he grunted. Mushu did not reply.

It felt like a tiny heat pad was sleeping on his chest. It was… surprisingly relaxing. Mick eyed Mushu warily.

“You can stay there tonight,” he said, ”but that’s it. Then it’s back to your cage.”

Mushu flicked his tongue innocently.

Mick wished he wasn’t such a bad liar.

* * *

They really should have expected Morgan le Fay to attack again, given that they hadn’t really defeated her in the first place, but in their defense, it had been like, months ago.

Morgana had returned with a vengeance, not only angrier, but also with several hellhounds as back up.

Constantine’s demon friend (Jason, Mick thinks his name was) was busy fending off the demonic canines, which left Morgana free to slam one green fireball after another at the Legends, driving them to scatter and take cover wherever available.

Mick crouched behind a stack of wooden crates, clutching his burned shoulder. It didn’t have the familiar sting of a burn from normal fire - it felt more like an electrical burn than anything.

Taking a chance, he looked over the edge of his hiding spot, and his heart stopped.

Morgana was making her way towards Ray’s hiding place, the man making more than a little noise as he tried to get the ATOM suit to work. Mick couldn’t warn him without giving his own position away, so he watched in helpless horror as the sorceress summoned an enormous green flame, and prepared to hurl it.

Fuck it.

“No!”

Mick burst from behind the crates, standing and pointing his heat gun at her. Before the flame had gotten more than a couple of inches, Morgana had snapped to his location and threw her fireball at him.

Mick grimaced and closed his eyes before it could hit him, not wanting to go out to such a horrible shade of green.

…Then opened them when he didn’t begin screaming in agony.

Morgana seemed to be trapped in a blue force-field, including the fireball which had almost spelled Mick’s end. Mick followed the blue glow to its source, and felt his mouth go dry.

Mushu, about fifty times his original size, was curled up on top of the Waverider, surrounded by a light blue energy.

_**HELLO MICHAEL.** _

Mick started at the surprisingly deep voice in his head. Glancing around awkwardly, Mick muttered “Um... hello.”

_**I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR CARING FOR ME WHILE I TRAVELED THROUGH INFANCY.** _

“It’s… no problem.”

Sara emerged from the rafters, sliding town a steel beam. She approached the frozen woman cautiously, then asked, “So, is she like, good?”

_**THE SORCERESS WILL NO LONGER TROUBLE YOUR TEAM. I INTEND TO RETURN HER TO THE INFERNAL PRISON FROM WHICH SHE ESCAPED.** _

At that, Morgan le Fay vanished with an anti-climatic pop.

Constantine also emerged from hiding, looking slightly amused but mostly concerned. “Well, shit,” he said tiredly. Habitually pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, John turned to his demon companion. “What do you think?”

Etrigan spoke, his voice was raspy and quiet, as if underused.

_“Although this is its place of birth_

_The dragon’s place is not on Earth_

_To its realm it must return_

_Or else itself and friends will burn.”_

Constantine nodded. “There you have it,” he said.

“What does that even mean?” asked Nate.

“I don’t care what it means,” said Mick, “Mushu isn’t going anywhere he doesn’t want to.”

_**I WISH TO STAY** _

“See? He wishes to stay. He’s staying. End of discussion.”

“I don’t know, that stuff about burning sounded like it might need some discussion,” said Sara.

_**ONCE WE HAVE HATCHED, IT IS TYPICAL FOR DRAGONS TO RETURN TO THEIR HOME DIMENSION. HOWEVER, FOR THE TIME BEING, I HAVE CHOSEN TO REMAIN WITH MICHAEL.** _

Etrigan glanced around in disbelief, shook his head, and then disappeared in a flurry of shadows. 

“Great,” sighed Constantine, “You scared off my only demon friend. Now who knows what I’ll have to do to get him to help again.”

Mushu stretched out his wings and began to shrink back down to his original size. He flew directly onto Mick’s injured shoulder and dug in his claws.

Mick hissed, but then watched in amazement as the new burn began to heal itself.

Satisfied, Mushu laid down and began to gently nap.

Amaya cooed. “Sara, please let him stay. Look how happy he is!”

Mick wasn’t sure if she was talking about him or the lizard.

Sara sighed. “Fine, fine. He can stay. Even though we don’t know what consequences will come out of that decision.”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” said Nate, as the group began boarding the Waverider once more.

Mick smiled fondly. “Yeah, I guess we will.”

~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I had a lot of fun writing Etrigan, even though I took a few liberties with his powers. Also, don't worry about when the Legends timeline this takes place.


End file.
